European Union News - European Union

The Justice, Freedom and Security DG, Unit JLS/C/4 is going to develop an study in order to make possible developments of Community legislation in the field of electoral matters including possible modification of Directive 93/109/EC

On Sunday, October 5th, 2008 FADERE (Federation of Romanians in Europe) organize the European Forum 2008. The main objective of the event will be to improve the image of the expat Romanian community and seek solutions to the problems of diaspora.

Making Europe more secure for its citizens while maintaining civil rights and liberties is the goal of European Security Research. By co-operating and coordinating efforts on a Europe-wide scale, the EU can better understand and adequately respond to risks in a constantly changing world and enhance its competitiveness at the same time. This is the aim of the a new common research project, called EU-SEC II, which will involve 23 European security administrations and one United Nations agency.

The European Commission has outlined in a report, the main steps that Europe has to take to respond to the next wave of the Information Revolution that will intensify in the coming years due to trends such as social networking, the decisive shift to on-line business services, nomadic services based on GPS and mobile TV and the growth of smart tags. In order to assess the possibilities of leadership in this trend, the Commission has launched a public consultation on the policy and private sector responses to these opportunities.

The Council of the European Union published in the OJEU on September 29th, a Council Joint Action appointing Mr. Pierre Morel, as the European Union Special Representative (EUSR) for the crisis in Georgia for the period from September 25tth, 2008, to February 28th 2009. The EUSR will enhance the effectiveness and visibility of the EU in helping to resolve the conflict in Georgia.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution urging the Commission and the Member states to safeguard media pluralism and ensure that all EU citizens can access free and diversified media. To prevent owners, shareholders or governments from interfering with editorial content, MEPs advocate creation of editorial charters. They also encourage an open discussion of the status of weblogs.

The European Commission has put forward a proposal for a directive that will further reduce the administrative burdens on European public limited-liability companies in the area of mergers and divisions. Under the proposal, companies would benefit from simplified requirements on reporting and on publication of draft terms

The third exercise to test the functioning of the EU's Emergency and Crisis Coordination Arrangements in Brussels (CCA) was conducted successfully on Tuesday September 23rd, 2008. The results of the exercise performed this year to assess crisis management and response mechanisms, confirmed that the arrangements work well, and the lessons learned will allow them to be improved further.

In adopting a report on combating terrorism, the EP voted to beef up the data protection provisions of a proposed framework decision on police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. In a second report on protection of personal data relating to a proposal to include three new offences in European law: public incitement to commit terrorist offences, recruitment for terrorism, and terrorist training, MEPs say the fight against terrorism must not constrain freedom of expression.

MEPs are making a formal request to the Commission to propose new legislation to improve regulation of financial markets, in particular regarding hedge funds and private equity investors. This calls comes after the debate held September 22nd, when they also called for more transparency in the financial system.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on a set of guidelines to assist Member States' courts in applying the EU state aid rules. The guidelines are aimed at supporting national courts and potential claimants in relation to domestic state aid challenges. Interested parties are invited to comment on the draft by October 23rd 2008.

Strategic choices for young Europeans is the official name for the EU- public consultation on the future of youth policy launched on the 22nd of september.